In article , jammer wrote:

On 1 Apr 2003 13:41:48 -0800, (Keegan Alex)
wrote:

The biggest tree in my yard is a 20 or so year old sycamore
tree, but the previous owner said it's about reached its livespan,

My mother has a sycamore tree that in over 100 yrs. old.

Oldest sycamore in Egypt is called the Virgin Mary Tree of Matariya. It
pretends to be 600 years old & further pretends to have been grown from a
sucker of an even older one that grew in the very location when Mary,
fleeing from Herod the Great, lingered underenath its branches & nursed
her infant son. This tree (really a series of trees) put Matariya on the
pilgrimage map for centuries & without it they'd've had far fewer tourist
profits. Of course, it's a big fraud. In reality the present-day sycamore
was planted in 1906, from a cutting of one that had been planted in 1672.
But the part about it causing miraculous cures & Mary herself floating
around in its branches, that I suppose is just BOUND to be true, just
don't forget to leave a donation.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/